Drug delivery across length scales

Abstract

Over the last century, there has been a dramatic change in the nature of therapeutic, biologically active molecules available to treat disease. Therapies have evolved from extracted natural products towards rationally designed biomolecules, including small molecules, engineered proteins and nucleic acids. The use of potent drugs which target specific organs, cells or biochemical pathways, necessitates new tools which can enable controlled delivery and dosing of these therapeutics to their biological targets. Here, we review the miniaturisation of drug delivery systems from the macro to nano-scale, focussing on controlled dosing and controlled targeting as two key parameters in drug delivery device design. We describe how the miniaturisation of these devices enables the move from repeated, systemic dosing, to on-demand, targeted delivery of therapeutic drugs and highlight areas of focus for the future.

Keywords:

• Drug delivery
• length scale
• targeting
• macro
• micro
• nano

Acknowledgements

AKP and DD gratefully acknowledge the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for the Engineering, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (E-TERM) award (EP/I017801/1).

Disclosure statement

RL is co-inventor on multiple patents and patent applications describing drug delivery systems and has a financial interest in Lyndra Inc. (Watertown, MA) a Biotechnology Company focussed on the development of oral drug delivery for long drug release. The rest of the authors declare no competing financial interests.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).